Today was the day: a gigantic machine in the yard of Project Cottage. I intended to be there to take some photos, but I had to take my kitty to the vet, so the guys driving snapped some shots for me instead. Gräv och Allservice i Virserum did a fabulous job, and I'm certain that if I kept going by myself it would have taken until 2023. 

Not long ago, the place looked like this. 

I took down shrubs and started digging. After lots of hard work - and realizing what poor shape I'm in haha - there were stairs!

It was at this point I started to realize just how long it would take me to go all the way around the house. Each of these piles of soil contains a lot more than at least I could guess.
Enter the big machine!

Now the area is flat and even, and I can start repairing/replacing the siding. The only thing that didn't work out according to plan is the plant that was on the side of the house; emotionally I would have liked to keep it, but intellectually the guy with the machine did the right thing. 




This took the project a gigantic leap forward. And the interesting thing is, I thought I had dug out the staircase, but he found one more step, and two stepping stones. So with all that work I still hadn't reached the old ground level. I wonder so much what the place looked like back in the day.
To be continued!